Significance of detection of genomic markers of pathogenicity islands in Escherichia coli in urological practice

: Examinations of 86 (100%) patients aged 16 to 68 years who had urinary tract infection could isolate 67 Escherichia coli cultures, 32 of them in acute pyelonephritis with marked destructive changes, 24 during an exacerbation of chronic cystitis, 11 in asymptomatic bacteriuria. Twenty E. coli strains isolated from feces of apparently healthy individuals were used as a control. The genetic determinants associated with nucleotide sequences of pathogenicity islands (PI) known for enterobacteria: hlyA, hlyB, cnf-1, papC, fimA, and irp-2 were determined in bacteria, by using polymerase chain reaction. There was an association of the frequency of PI determinants in E. coli with the severity of the clinical course of urinary tract infection. The high frequency of 2 PI determinants or more was ascertained in highly pathogenic E. coli strains as compared with the cultures isolated from apparently healthy individuals.